When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Could have posted on the XF forum but thought this might be of interest here. Besides...
...this forum is more fun. So, for anyone interested in the Sportbrake, here are a bunch of random observations in no particular order:
- 750 miles in, still love the car. I am SO GLAD I didn’t go the SUV route.
- power-wise, have to remind myself it’s not an XKR. Wish the transmission kickdown was a little more aggressive, but that’s a minor complaint. Not surprisingly, given that it’s a smaller engine, its power zone is a little higher. Really starts to cook at about 3500 RPM.
- While driving, I have to look back behind myself now and then to remind myself that this is a station wagon because it handles so well.
- speaking of the station wagon part of it, SWEET JESUS you can put a lot back there with the rear seats down. Helped a friend out the other day and we were both shocked by how much you can fit in this car.
- color: grey is tricky, but I love it when it works— and this color, “Coris Grey” (or something like that), is perfect. It’s like a really warm charcoal. When grey gets too dark, it just looks muddy and flat, and too light and it’s “too grey,” if that makes sense. This is perfect. (Lunar Grey on the XK is also terrific. “Stratus Grey,” the darker grey which I had once, is too close to black.)
- for what it’s worth: I’ve never had more comments about a car, Including the XKR. Fun to see people walking to the back of the car to see what make it is. Had to gas up in East LA and the bangers there gave a thumbs-up and shouted out that the car was “BADASS, MAN! BADASS!”
- The glass roof is a HUGE slab of glass and I love it. To be clear, it’s not a sunroof - it doesn’t move, kind of like the top of the Tesla. I can say that even during a hot Southern California day the sliding screen really does a good job of blocking heat.
- already faced down my first Jag electrical/tech issue. I’m sure there are more to come.
- like the XKR, the Sportbrake comes well equipped. It’s got four option packages, and all the cars I’ve seen online come with at least two:
COMFORT/CONVENIENCE PACKAGE: basically adds cooled seats in the front (and heated seats in the back, but those will almost certainly not be used, at least not by me). This is a must-have for me, and I’m glad I’ve got it.
DRIVER ASSIST PACKAGE: all that lane-warning, parking assist stuff (which I don’t use)….. PLUS, Adaptive Cruise Control. I don’t have this but I do care about the Adaptive Cruise so I wish I had it.
TECHNOLOGY PACKAGE: a bunch of stuff I don’t really understand. BUT ALSO…. an 835-watt Meridian sound system that makes our Bowers and Wilkins system sound like a cheap boom-box. Worth it for that alone and I’m glad I have it.
LUXURY PACKAGE: basically, plusher mats, more fancy lighting trims, and a suede headliner and A-pillars. I don’t have it, and given the spartan nature of the interior I kind of wish I did.
Any questions, just ask.
(PS: Jaguar only sold about 250 of these cars total in the US. Almost all of them are either black, white, or silver. Even the grey that I got is rare. AND…. there is one Sportbrake on carmax that’s a deep red with the “Brogue” interior, which is a lovely shade of saddle brown. It’s a little overpriced but it’s a gorgeous, one-of-a-kind car. It may be the only Sportbrake with that color/interior combo ever sold in the US. It’s in the Bay area, and if it was in LA I may have said screw it and overpaid for it anyway. I LOVE it.)
Very handsome, and much more acceptable than any SUV. This is the second production wagon that Jaguar has made, the first being the X-Type Estate and Sportwagon (excellent cars, and I speak from experience).
Very nice, glad you are happy with your purchase. You are right, if you had to pick between a Jaguar SUV and that Sportbrake then that is the clear choice. Not a fan of the Jag SUV, a bit to smallish for me. I love my Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit and if I had to pick between a Sportbrake and my JGC I would go SUV every time. But I get the choice you made, it is a sport-ish car with cargo capacity! And a Jaguar to boot.
I guess I was ahead of the times back in the day. When I first started with my company 25 years back the company car was a Ford Taurus station wagon. Here I was a 28 year old single fella out playing the scene with the ladies in a freakin' wagon. I did rather enjoy that I could fit my Kawasaki 550 standup jetski in the back and close the hatch, didn't have a trailer so the wagon was my utility vehicle. Ah the good ole' days of tearing around town in the free company wagon, the police didn't even bother to stop me, I don't think they could believe what the radar or their eyes were telling them. Certainly no one in a wagon was nearly getting it up on two wheels in the turns. Of course it was just a Ford so no comparison to the style and grace of your Jaguar version...
Brilliant choice all around, great color and quite the unique ride in so many ways. I've always had a desire to have one of these. Glad you're happy with it.
Brilliant choice all around, great color and quite the unique ride in so many ways. I've always had a desire to have one of these. Glad you're happy with it.
My GF said, essentially, if I'd have bought the red one in the bay area that would have been "her" car. (By contrast, the XKR does nothing for her...)
Next up, it's gettin a tint. I'll post pics.
Tinting my TourX windows was the first mod I did....NOTE: your rear view mirror may not auto-dim after having the back window tinted. I just returned from a PA-FL round trip and will be going to the tint shop to have them tint my rear view mirror!
AND…. there is one Sportbrake on carmax that’s a deep red with the “Brogue” interior, which is a lovely shade of saddle brown. It’s a little overpriced but it’s a gorgeous, one-of-a-kind car. It may be the only Sportbrake with that color/interior combo ever sold in the US. It’s in the Bay area, and if it was in LA I may have said screw it and overpaid for it anyway. I LOVE it.)
Is that the one that they call ‘purple’?
There’s a red one in Charleston, SC.
Could have posted on the XF forum but thought this might be of interest here. Besides...
...this forum is more fun. So, for anyone interested in the Sportbrake, here are a bunch of random observations in no particular order:
- 750 miles in, still love the car. I am SO GLAD I didn’t go the SUV route.
- power-wise, have to remind myself it’s not an XKR. Wish the transmission kickdown was a little more aggressive, but that’s a minor complaint. Not surprisingly, given that it’s a smaller engine, its power zone is a little higher. Really starts to cook at about 3500 RPM.
- While driving, I have to look back behind myself now and then to remind myself that this is a station wagon because it handles so well.
- speaking of the station wagon part of it, SWEET JESUS you can put a lot back there with the rear seats down. Helped a friend out the other day and we were both shocked by how much you can fit in this car.
- color: grey is tricky, but I love it when it works— and this color, “Coris Grey” (or something like that), is perfect. It’s like a really warm charcoal. When grey gets too dark, it just looks muddy and flat, and too light and it’s “too grey,” if that makes sense. This is perfect. (Lunar Grey on the XK is also terrific. “Stratus Grey,” the darker grey which I had once, is too close to black.)
- for what it’s worth: I’ve never had more comments about a car, Including the XKR. Fun to see people walking to the back of the car to see what make it is. Had to gas up in East LA and the bangers there gave a thumbs-up and shouted out that the car was “BADASS, MAN! BADASS!”
- The glass roof is a HUGE slab of glass and I love it. To be clear, it’s not a sunroof - it doesn’t move, kind of like the top of the Tesla. I can say that even during a hot Southern California day the sliding screen really does a good job of blocking heat.
- already faced down my first Jag electrical/tech issue. I’m sure there are more to come.
- like the XKR, the Sportbrake comes well equipped. It’s got four option packages, and all the cars I’ve seen online come with at least two:
COMFORT/CONVENIENCE PACKAGE: basically adds cooled seats in the front (and heated seats in the back, but those will almost certainly not be used, at least not by me). This is a must-have for me, and I’m glad I’ve got it.
DRIVER ASSIST PACKAGE: all that lane-warning, parking assist stuff (which I don’t use)….. PLUS, Adaptive Cruise Control. I don’t have this but I do care about the Adaptive Cruise so I wish I had it.
TECHNOLOGY PACKAGE: a bunch of stuff I don’t really understand. BUT ALSO…. an 835-watt Meridian sound system that makes our Bowers and Wilkins system sound like a cheap boom-box. Worth it for that alone and I’m glad I have it.
LUXURY PACKAGE: basically, plusher mats, more fancy lighting trims, and a suede headliner and A-pillars. I don’t have it, and given the spartan nature of the interior I kind of wish I did.
Any questions, just ask.
(PS: Jaguar only sold about 250 of these cars total in the US. Almost all of them are either black, white, or silver. Even the grey that I got is rare. AND…. there is one Sportbrake on carmax that’s a deep red with the “Brogue” interior, which is a lovely shade of saddle brown. It’s a little overpriced but it’s a gorgeous, one-of-a-kind car. It may be the only Sportbrake with that color/interior combo ever sold in the US. It’s in the Bay area, and if it was in LA I may have said screw it and overpaid for it anyway. I LOVE it.)
It's cool you have a Jag and your car is fast enough to beat any car that cost over $120k but i'm not a fan of the XF or the F-Type.Their bodystyles are so so to me and can't compare in looks to the XK.Better interior they have since it's more updated and would have the cool pop up futuristic rotary gear shifter knob instead of that fake stick shift pretender manual tranny when the car is just an automatic that use pedal shifters if you want to turn it into manual.That's how I feel about it,and really don't too much care about being fan of other Jaguar cars unless they remake and bring back out another sexy looking ridiculously fast XK and XKR again.I feel Jaguar can make cars that look better than the XF and F-Type cause if F-Type gone be the XK successor,They should've made the F-Type Look exactly like the XK in the Front and gave it an F-Type look for the rear end.The XK could seriously use the F-Type makeover for a rear end look so it can look just as bad azz as an Aston Martin in the back, but with Jaguars Vision on it cause i do sort of love how the F-Types look in the back and could've kept the XK lineup continued with the F-Type rear end makeover with F-Type rear lights and updated interior and infotainment system that lets you use bluetooth to play music
Last edited by Barry Leftwich; Oct 18, 2021 at 07:45 AM.
The CarMax website pictures don’t do it any justice, that’s for sure.
...right?
Thing is, our xk’s had purple as an option— I think it was called “Aubergine,” or something (in English, “eggplant.”). It was a subtle, reddish-purple, but purple nonetheless. Didn’t really work.
I went and saw another car in this red and confirmed that it was offered for the Sportbrake. It’s wonderful.
We were very close to leasing a Sportbrake but wife did not like the color combo that was available to us. It was silver. I think the Sportbrake will be one of the most collectable modern Jags like the X Type Estate has become.
We were very close to leasing a Sportbrake but wife did not like the color combo that was available to us. It was silver. I think the Sportbrake will be one of the most collectable modern Jags like the X Type Estate has become.
pretty car. certainly “prettier” than the bloated suv. And you shouldn’t get confused with a soccer mom.
I was inspired and looked about on Autotrader. But all I could find was the XF 25t Prestige…. which is no where are pretty. (nor as fun)
what am I missing??
We looked at XF Sportbrake over the summer (2nd time this car was under consideration), but couldn't find one we liked (or could afford) and ended with a Volvo V60 CC instead.
pretty car. certainly “prettier” than the bloated suv. And you shouldn’t get confused with a soccer mom.
I was inspired and looked about on Autotrader. But all I could find was the XF 25t Prestige…. which is no where are pretty. (nor as fun)
what am I missing??
on Autotrader, do a search for an xf, then go to “Style” and select “wagon” which is at the bottom of the pull-down list.
XK owners impression of the XF Sportbrake
